A revolver generally comprises a drum or cylinder provided with a multiplicity of angularly equispaced bores which are each adapted to receive a respective cartridge and to be successively aligned, by the drum-stepping mechanism, with the barrel and hammer of the revolver. As each cartridge is fired, its shell remains in the barrel and can be ejected individually, or in some cases simultaneously with the other spent cartridge casings, through the use of an ejectormechanism of the drum.
Naturally the individual insertion of fresh cartridges each consisting of a shell or casing receiving the powder charge, and the primer and bullet which is to be discharged from the barrel, it time-consuming and burdensome. Hence it has been proposed to facilitate loading of the revolver by providing a ring or disk into which the cartridges are previously fitted to form a crown of cartridges held together by the ring or disk and which can then be inserted into the drum.
This ring or disk also can enable the simultaneous withdrawal of all of the spent casings or shells once the weapon has been fully discharged.
While such rapid-loading devices have proved to be somewhat effective, whether or not an insertion tool or device must additionally be used to fit the set of cartridges into place, difficulties have been encountered because of the relatively large dimensions (e.g. thickness and diameter) of the ring or of the rapid loading unit as a whole. Furthermore, the unit must be filled by hand or other tools so that again time-consuming processes may be involved.
Yet another disadvantage of earlier cartridge-receiving ring systems is that they are usually monodimensional, i.e. are suited for use only with a particular make of a revolver. In practice, different makes of revolvers for a given cartridge caliber may have the cartridge-receiving bores with different angular spacings or center-to-center spacings. Consequently, a particular rapid-loading unit may be suitable only for use with a given make of revolver or, at best, for a limited number of makes or constructions.